Being truly ready
for prayer involves
tremendous focus

This is one of my favorite stories. A famously pious rabbi had many devoted followers. Where he went, they went. What he did, they did. How he acted, they acted.

One day, the newest and youngest of his students, fresh from his Bar Mitzvah and not knowing any better, asked the sainted man a question. "Rabbi," he began, oblivious to the shock on the faces of his older comrades, "whenever we go to the synagogue to pray, why do you stop and wait outside the door before going in?"

Actually, all the young men had wondered this, so they awaited the answer eagerly.

The sage turned and looked the frail boy in the face. He said, kindly, "When I stop, I pray that I may be truly ready to pray."

Jewish tradition teaches that the Gates of Prayer are always open. However, it takes a truly soulful intent to carry our voice through.

I have heard it said that prayer is easier for those who are more spiritually attuned or emotionally aware.

These skills are honed by practice, need and desire, to say nothing of a sincere belief in a source of the divine existing beyond human ken.

Achieving that goal, to say nothing of even getting to the point of being ready to achieve that goal, takes tremendous focus. It can happen; of that I have no doubt. But a gentle reminder never hurts.

The Jewish High Holy Days begin this year on Wednesday. During that time, Jews believe that the Holy Blessed One opens the Book of Life, makes a judgment on us and seals it for the coming year. Prior to it, we are given a chance to emulate that storied rabbi by praying that we may be ready to pray.

We are called upon to do this tonight, the Saturday prior to the start of the New Year, through an observance known as Selichot. It has the single goal that in the preparation for prayer, through the internal tuning of our souls, we rediscover, admit and resolve to forgo forever our personal failings, our sins.

Preparing to prepare, like a foot in the door, somehow succeeds in wedging, prying and opening wide our selves. Obstructions removed, the Gates of Prayer stand open before us.

While Selichot is part of our ritual life as a people and a faith community, every Jewish person makes their own decision to participate or not. If they do, though, they will find a remarkable experience filled with personal and collective moments, deeply touching with the language, music and visual styles of the Holy Days.

Who knows? It might even become a habit -- Selichot, as well as prayer.